A Life By Design, Not By Default

It is not too often that we hear people say this, but I can honestly say that it is true for me.

I do however have several jobs or roles in my professional life. I’m a health practitioner, an educator and for Brewsters Running I’m …? I’m not sure exactly what I am, but I really enjoy it. I get to motivate, inspire and show people what is possible.

From this I have been given the opportunity to help people one on one to discover or re-discover the joy that can be found in running.

Often I will get people that have not run for many years; even decades and they have it set in their mind that they can no longer run. After allowing me to show them some simple techniques and ideas they invariably change that view.

It gives me great pleasure to take someone that gave up running in their 20’s due to back or knee pain, only to find that in their 50’s with the right technique and approach, they can in fact run without pain and enjoy every minute of it.

I get to coach / teach people that have had little or no experience in running and at the other end of the extreme I’m coaching runners that have aspirations of national titles and the ability to match. This is why I can say that I love my job. I get to be a positive influence for all sorts of people.

On the other side of the coin I see injured people that have lost their ability to do the things they love and I get to turn that around for them and help them on the road to recovery.

Right now I’m helping Donna Campisi (www.rundonnarun.com.au) train for her first Marathon. Just over 2 months ago Donna could run a maximum of 30 steps due to having a Stroke when she was 8 years old. A few years later, she also developed Type 1 Diabetes and a host of other complications. Now, as an adult, Donna is learning to run for the first time since she was in primary school. Only a week ago Donna ran her first 5.3km Fun Run – I’m not sure who was more satisfied by this… me or Donna.

In my job as an educator, I get to teach people to do all these things for other people, which for me is a bit like completing the circle.

Why am I telling you all this?

I’m not sure, but I sure hope you are working on a life that inspires you every day too.

An author I greatly respect by the name of Seth Godin has this to say about the topic…

“Instead of wondering where your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”

If you need some help connecting, reconnecting, rehabilitating, re-energising or simply re-establishing your love for running, drop me a line and I’ll do my best to get you there.